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Inland celebrates double over provincial rivals

Inland surged to third place on both the CSA three-day and T20 standings after completing a double triumph over provincial rivals KZN Coastal over the weekend.
Inland and Coastal make up the Dolphin franchise and the annual derby is hotly contested, played this year at the Chatsworth ground.
The hero of Inland’s three-day victory is undoubtedly left-arm spinner Tabraiz Shamsi who bagged five wickets in the first innings and then went one better to claim no less than eight wickets in the second innings.
While Shamsi’s remarkable match figures of 13/120 in 55 overs (16 maidens) was a critical factor, Inland also demonstrated the importance of a sound first innings in the three-day format. Asked to bat, Inland posted a total of 197 with SJ Erwee (50) and Divan van Wyk (45) topping the scoreboard with support from Imran Khan (32) and Ruan Pretorius (25).
The home side was restricted to 162 in its first knock, courtesy of a disciplined Inland bowling attack. Led by Tabraiz, Matthew Pillans (2/22),Cyil Mthimkhulu (2/40) and Graham Hume (1/24) also weighed in.
Inland’s second innings was a sight to behold with Van Wyk (91), Erwee (50) and Gqadushe (48) all getting among the runs, allowing the visitors to declare at 258/6. The 293 target proved too much for the hosts that battled against Shamsi and the part-time spin of Gqadushe, Erwee and Khan (1/29). The only other wicket not going to the spinners went to Hume (1/13().
Unlike its previous outing in Paarl when it demolished Boland in the three-day match and then came unstuck in the T20, Inland did not let up the pressure to beat Coastal by 21 runs. Electing to bat first, Inland piled on the pressure through Tyler Lortan (59), Erwee (33), Matt Hulett (18) and Ruan Pretorius (16), all with impressive +100 strike rates.
Coastal battled to string together decent partnerships as wickets steadily fell throughout the afternoon, with the spin of Gqadushe (3/21), Brad Moses (1/14), Hulett (1/16), Shamsi (1/23) and the pace bowling of Pretorius (1/19) and Yusuf Abdullah (1/24) proving the difference.
Next up is the tricky encounter against SWD in Oudtshoorn that will be keen to upstage Inland’s push for more silverware after claiming the CSA 50-over title.